Main Street Plaza is a new group blog for the post-Mormon community and everyone else who is interested in Mormonism. We’re especially looking to discuss topics of general interest to people who have been Mormon — things that are relevant to your life as a cultural Mormon — rather than placing the focus on proofs of why Mormonism is bad or wrong. Whatever your perspective of Mormonism may be, you are welcome to contribute to the discussion, and maybe we will find some common ground as friends, neighbors, and family members.
So what do you think? Is this a pipe dream? Or do we have enough common interests as a cultural Mormon community to fill a blog with interesting topics?
We would like this to be a community blog even more than a group blog, so we’re looking for guest posts from all of you. Something as simple as a discussion question or a link to an LDS-interest article or cartoon is welcome as well as a complete article about your own experiences, insights, research, and art work.
Please send your guest posts to latterdaymainstreet@gmail.com, and share your thoughts and ideas with us by commenting below.
I am sure that there will be a stiff breeze of negative posts LOL. But when one gets to the root of disagreements between Naclers and DAMU poster, for example, more often than not it turns out that the differences are confined to much more narrow questions than it initially appeared.
Even apologists aspire to similar values as DAMU posters, which is not surprising because we all share aspects of our socializations.
I would hope that your new endeavor does not degenerate into the typical virulent anti-Mormon rants that plague some other sites. Your stated goal of focusing your “discussion” on issues relevant to cultural Mormons:
is a good goal. I wish you success. Interesting title for your blog. I assume you took it from the “Main Street” issue that worked its way through the federal court system, in recent past.
Thanks for the well-wishing!!!
I can’t speak for all of the many people involved in this project, but on my own blog (Letters from a Broad) I’ve been discussing LDS-interest topics for the whole year-and-a-half I’ve been blogging, and I don’t think it has been anti-Mormon or ranting or even particularly unfriendly to believers. Of course that assessment may be relative… 😉
Many blogs on the blog roll (both sides of the divide) have a good record of civil dialog with people of various belief-systems.
Of course, with a group this big, it’s hard to predict precisely what will happen and what everyone will want to talk about. So, we’ll see!!! 😀
This sounds like a blog I’d like.
I’m more of a commenter than a writer, but right now, I’m in the middle of a ‘post-Mormon’ issue that I’d love to explore. My mostly non-active daughter (age 7) wants to be baptized, mainly to fit in with her active LDS friends and family members. Is it disingenuous to have a child baptized, who really isn’t an active member or believer? She was “born in the Church” and goes to church a few times a year, so she’s familiar with the teachings, but really isn’t a candidate in the traditional sense.
As a post-Mormon parent, can you make baptism for your child a sort of hybrid between orthodoxy and merely a symbolic rite of passage, in order to feel a bond with peers and family?
Any sort of future post on this issue would be interesting to me, if anyone has had similar experiences or insights.
Wendy that sounds like a great idea. If you want to, you can pose that question yourself. I will ask around if someone would be willing to discuss it.
I remember quite a few people that had this issue and dealt with it in creative ways.
Thanks Hellmut.
Feel free to post my question anytime. Or enlist someone else, with a similar experience, to write up something more official and blog-like.
Hey Chanson–What a great idea! I love the loaded name.
I think the common interests are there, and I’ve always appreciated your bridge-building (rather than bridge-burning) approach, while still engaging in balanced criticism and staying true to your unbelief. I’ve tried to adopt the same tack.
I have one question for you: how do plan to differentiate this from The Cultural Hall? It seems like there is some overlap between the two, though maybe they’re focused more on working within Mormonism as an institution (as well as the culture). I ask this to give me a better sense of how you want to position MSP.
I’m very interested in mormon culture. I’m technically still LDS though not a believer and am not active in any sense. I have a complex relationship with LDS culture, I’ve never felt accepted by it, always felt like an outsider. I took a class once called “The Anthropology of Mormonism” and through that class I realized how many ways I violate the norms of LDS “behavior”, this even when I was a faithful member.
Since leaving the church in the way I described, I’ve felt lonely for some of the things that I had as a mormon. I really liked the blessing on the food. I loved giving “blessings” to my children. I loved counseling someone that “God loved them”. None of these things are available to me now in a way I can feel genuine doing.
Yeah, I’m interested in a safe space to think about mormonism.
John — we’d love to have your input, participation, and guest posts!!! 😀
I think The Cultural Hall has a bit of a different niche since they seem more focused on how and why to stay an active Mormon (and perhaps believe parts of it) even if you disbelieve some important points. So they’re a little more in the NOM camp. Here, we’d also like to welcome people who don’t believe or practice any of it yet are still interested in their Mormon heritage.
Don — That’s wonderful!!! We look forward to your participation as well!!! 😀
Just taking a look to see what this place is about.
That, and I’m hot for hottie brunette mathematician who sometimes posts here.
And on THAT note, I love how the ‘submit’ button below this box urges me to “Hit It.” I don’t require that much encouragement.
A-ha! So it’s you, Chanson!
I was looking at this site the other day, while you were still building it, and wondered who was so busy building such a diverse link list. It all makes sense now.
Congrats and I so look forward to the success of this, the worlds first truly integrated and all inclusive Mormon topic blog.
Hi Langdon, we look forward to your participation in the discussion!!!
Hi Mel!!!
Actually, this whole thing was organized by Hellmut and some other people from FLAK (Nom de Cypher, Sister Mary Lisa, etc.). I just weaseled my way onto the admins list by being a total blogging addict. 😉
I think this is great – BUT
Some of these blogs now require passwords.
I’m thinking the girl who AND Ramblings of a Mattman.
Also – I write about mormonism but lots of other things too. I’m assuming it’s okay to still list me on the blogroll?
Of course, you are welcome, Aerin. I added your blog a minute ago. Thanks for letting us know!
Hi Aerin!!!
Of course you were already on the list (as if I’d forget you blog!!!) and now with Hellmut’s help, you’re on twice!!! 😉
Don’t worry about not talking much about Mormonism — lots of blogs here barely talk about Mormonism, and some not at all. It’s just a post-Mo community of blogs. I didn’t notice that those two had switched to password only. Thanks for the heads-up.
BTW, I was meaning to ask you if you’d be interested in writing a guest post or two…
I like the clearing house idea and a centralized location. Not all of us can be as rabidly affixed to our keyboards as chanson.
Most of us can only write what we now and if you grew up Mormon, you can’t help but know that. The list of blogs you’ve compiled is impressive.
A couple of suggestions for future improvements — on-line communities are great, but in many regards I prefer real life. Some type of side bar for actual real world events that readers might be able to attend in various parts of the world might be nice. Also, I would suggest a post of editorial criteria and guidelines that would keep the quality high and the quantity manageable (the Mormon Mathew 5:48 perfectionist in me, wanting to read, comment and write about everything perfectly is simply asking for editorial respite). While you are at it, maybe commenting guidelines so that we don’t digress into name calling and fist fights.
Just some thoughts on what looks like an exciting project.
Ha ha, Wank!!! Just for that, I’m not commenting on your blog anymore!!! J/K 😉
True, I’ve been online working on blogstuff more or less continuously since the launch of this site, but I’ll have you know that in the same time, I’ve written a profesional article (while finishing up the reserch for a chapter of a book project), plus got in some real-world socializing as well as playing with my kids. Cleaning the house (or even making the remotest pretense of doing it) kind of fell by the wayside, but I can’t do everything… 😉